corn-on-the-rob

psshh, just order them online!

This just goes back to the most influential thing in fishing: confidence. Which makes it understandable. My leader never breaks at the knot, always between the lure and the knot. Over the last year of using this set up I have the utmost confidence in it. Really the only down side to me is having to take the 35 seconds to tie a new leader when necessary. I have had days on lake Erie where I caught over 40 drum (I kept track) on a 12 lb leader with out retying with the smallest being no less than 3lb, most in the 6lb to 10lb range and a few pushing 15lb. I wouldn't change the leader in a bass tournament unless it has gotten too short or if it is nicked up. Also brought in a close to 40lb catfish on the Potomac on a 12lb leader with out fear of failure. (lol I was more worried about my medium powered rod than the knot) If you use the right tools for the job and use them correctly, the leader is not even a remote concern.

Hiding the line from the fish is an added bonus to the main reasons I use a leader. 1. Abrasion resistance. Rocks eat up braid like a hot knife through butter. 2. I can break off intentionally at the leader with out losing braid. So I get all of the benefits of the braid with out the negatives, and likewise for fluoro. But I will say that believing line visibility never matters is an extreme oversight. It may not matter some of the time, perhaps even most of the time, but there are certainly times when choice of line visibility can absolutely make or break a day.

Drift fishing is extremely popular on the great lakes especially in rough water. It allows you to complement the waves/conditions instead of fighting them.

Remember, people have great success ice-fishing where the water temp is dancing just outside that 32 mark. Cold water can seem like a baron wasteland, which at times is very true because the fish can group really tightly. That is the challenge: Find one fish, find them all.

Good video Glenn. Enjoyed it.

I pour smaller football heads with a 3/0 hook and throw all my craws on it. I glue in a weed guard in half the batch so I can use either weedless or exposed. It works extremely well for me. The football head shape keeps them upright and they don't catch weeds much because they aren't giant heads.

Same here. As long as the hooks are in the same hookset class then it should be doable. Like bb said, I have used small tubes or grubs with a lighter wire hook so that I can use the same hookset as drop shot. That being said, for some reason I don't have confidence throwing the double set up for some strange reason.

Gotcha. I feel the same way, my knot connection never breaks, only somewhere along the leader which means it has great strength and like you said, I want it to be breakable just beyond a reasonable point. just to clarify: Albright Knot: Only wraps down Modified albright = Alberto Knot: wraps up and down Only wraps up is actually more of a clinch and technically not an abright or alberto, but im just arguing semantics like a terd

what is your variation if I may ask?

alberto. strong, quick, easy.

I don't think I would even watch to be honest.

In any tournaments I have fished an aerated live-well was required. Be sure to check regulations.

That is the beauty of a tube. It is ambiguous enough looking that one fish thinks it's a craw, another thinks it's a baitfish. Very versatile.

Fishing with my college club I have been paired with a couple guys who don't pull straight back when trying to break off. They would just basically break off by bending the rod and oh my did it make me cringe. I was waiting for the bone crack. Meanwhile I get snagged frequently but get it out 95% of the time. Carefully whip it back over branches, reeling down and stabbing lures off (carefully of course), bow and arrow things free even with braid etc, etc. They thought I was a wizard.

I'm gonna have to politely disagree . At times small-mouth fishing is like catching fish in a barrel but they are notorious for the old "here today, gone tomorrow". They can be brutally stubborn. My vote would be for NLMB just because spotted behave similar to smallies in a sense and I know FLMB are tougher to catch. Not that any of these fish are easy or hard to catch all of the time. This is assuming that all else is equal because obviously different conditions per fish can cause major differences.

Treat this as the exception, not the rule. Tournament fishing can be a lot of fun and very rewarding. Like A-Jay said, it wasn't you or the tournament that had the problem. Find a new partner. Heck next time you do one it will seem like a dream not fishing with him and you will have much more fun!

Looking back on the responses to this thread, regardless of if you are planning on fishing professionally or not, go to college. A college degree may not help you as a professional angler but it is something you should get if given the opportunity. The hard truth here is that regardless of how good you think you are, how much "heart" and "drive" you have, it is more than a long shot to expect with any comfort that you will be a professional. At the point which that is realized, if you have a college degree to fall back on, your situation will be leagues better than if you didn't.

My plastics don't have the ability to bend and contort quite like the real thing but I agree with what you are saying. I guess what I meant to say is because bass consume fish significantly more often than worms, I am gonna key in on representing those movements more so. But hey if the bass still thinks its an earthworm, by all means, a feast is awaiting him!

Because I believe a bass bites a nightcrawler mostly due to the real smell/taste not so much due to action as in my experience nightcrawlers do not move much let alone with the rigidity or hopping/tail up/fluttering tail motions my soft plastic worms display. If you research around you will find in most cases worms make up an extremely small percentage of a basses diet naturally. Nearly negligible. So why would I want to imitate something other than crawfish and fish which make up the overwhelming majority of the fishes diet? That being said with the majority of the baits we use, the key is to make it look alive regardless of what you or the fish thinks it represents.

The biggest things you need to be a professional fisherman are money and the freedom to do so. With out those two things, even if you are very talented, you won't have the opportunity. While it is not impossible to find a decent job with out a college degree, a college degree will hopefully give you more options in salary and location. Until you are a fully supported professional you need the means to get there. There are only a couple good reasons that you shouldn't go to college. One of them shouldn't be money. You can attend a cheaper school or even a community college. The government loans through FAFSA might seem scary but the support is there if you/your family can't support you financially. The two acceptable reasons that I can think of for not attending are mental/health issues and if you are of very below average intelligence both of which I believe not to be true so far. I personally would find a major that fits your strengths first then if nothing else then look into business/marketing degrees. Good at science and math? maybe engineering. Get a BS in nursing and work three 12 hour shifts a week making good money, fish the rest. You get the point. Also careful to not get suckered into a "useless" degree. For example a 4 year psychology degree will not amount to much (not always) unless you go to graduate school and get your PhD. Also a ton of colleges have fishing clubs/teams so you can get tons of great experience and exposure at this level. In short, regardless of your intentions/desires for fishing, unless you have a d**n good reason not to, go to college.

Utilize high school club/team resources, go to college (a ton of colleges have clubs or teams now) and utilize their resources. By this I mean these clubs/teams have their own sponsors which you benefit from as a member. After college, fish high tier circuits and do well, THEN you can think about attracting sponsors for personal support.

when fishing in general is not understood well, mention tournament fishing and watch the looks of confusion you get.

When I throw a plastic worm my intention is to imitate very generally something that is living or more so often, a bait fish, not literally a worm.

welcome fellow ohioan!